Portugal v Denmark – Euro 2016 Qualifying 8 Oct 2015

Qualifying from Group I is a little tougher as only five teams are present. Come Thursday night, Portugal will attempt to hold the top spot by earning a positive result against Denmark. For the Danish, there is pressure to add to their tally of 12 points and stay ahead of Albania in the race to Euro 2016. The last time these two teams met, the Portuguese emerged triumphant when they earned a 1-0 victory in Copenhagen.

Expectations

In their last outing, Portugal travelled to Albania and earned only a 1-0 win. However, this was still a better result than when the Portuguese lost 1-0 at home to Albania in their first qualifying game. On this occasion, a late goal in the 90th minute from Miguel Veloso saved Portuguese pride.

Against Denmark, it is likely that Portugal will again be over-reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo. Midfielders like Nani, Danny, and Miguel Veloso simply are many levels below the current FIFA World Player of the Year. Given how Portugal have scored only eight goals in six games, it is likely that they will struggle to break down Demark.

Denmark have a slightly more rounded first XI, but the problem for the Danish is that their star forward has now turned 34 years old. With Zlatan Ibrahimović absent from their last two qualifiers, the Danish played consecutive 0-0 draws against Albania and Armenia, respectively.

What also impacted Denmark in those games is that Christian Eriksen was also out with injury, depriving the Danes of much-needed creativity. While Ibrahimović will miss out against Portugal, the Danes will at least have Eriksen in the squad. Nicklas Bendtner is by no means a dependable striker, but he has netted 29 times for his country. Improved supply will give the Danish a better chance against Portugal.

Both sides have struggled to score in their respective Euro 2016 qualifying campaigns. Going for a draw at 3.50 could be a shrewd move in what will be a tight game. In terms of goals, under 2.5 goals makes sense.